


Penance

by Ljósfari (Ljosfari)



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: F/F, Spoilers for Season of the Hunt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:27:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27644110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ljosfari/pseuds/Lj%C3%B3sfari
Summary: "Not so long ago you were here on your knees, asking for my forgiveness. Today I shall do the same."
Relationships: Mara Sov/Petra Venj
Comments: 6
Kudos: 26





	Penance

Her Regent does not have what she deserves for her lofty title. Her throne is a folding chair in a war room, the crown on her temples is a pounding migraine. Her regalia is a crumpled uniform that smells like cordite and sweat.

Her capital is an accursed city, a playground for Hive Gods, blights and cryptoliths debasing hallowed ground like a malignant growth.

Petra has been facing this curse head-on for two years. Never yielding. Never wavering.

Never asking for respite.

Never receiving respite from her Queen.

The only thing she received from her was silence, Mara opening a chasm of acrimony between them. How could she look at her Wrath in the eye, after Petra had hunted and killed her brother? How could Mara say anything to her without making a dart out of her grief and shooting it through Petra's heart?

So she gave her faithful Wrath the silent treatment.

How petty does it seems in hindsight. Petra had buried two old friends, murdered one of them herself. Out of duty — to the Reef, to her Queen. How contemptible to let Petra deal with her guilt alone. As if Mara's orders were not to do whatever it took to keep the Reef safe.

(Who would have thought Uldren would turn against the Reef? Not Mara.)

(Who would have thought Riven would do the same? Anyone with half a brain.)

Mara Sov does not beg, does not bow, yet here she is, on her knees before her Wrath.

"Petra. I have taken you for granted all this time."

Petra stands over her Queen, bemused. _She looks so haggard,_ Mara thinks. Her shoulders sag, her eye is bloodshot — how long has it been since she had a good night's sleep?

"Xivu Arath is knocking at our door. Savathûn still toys with us. The Black Fleet has made four celestial bodies vanish in thin air. And you worry about a soldier's feelings, my lady?"

"My Wrath," Mara laughs, "is not a mere soldier."

Petra takes her Queen's hands on hers. With her head down, Mara can only see Petra's scuffed boots, filthy with asteroid dust and Hive innards. Her palms are rough with calluses that Mara does not remember. Are they new, or has it been so long without Petra's touch that she has forgotten the exact shape and texture of her hands?

"Not so long ago you were here on your knees, asking for my forgiveness. Today I shall do the same." She couches her pride in carefully chosen words, distancing herself from her raw guilt. Dressing up her shame. "You did not need me, that much is clear, to keep the Reef standing. But this city, this curse, should have not been a burden you bore alone."

Petra kneels with her, brings Mara's hands to her lips, kisses her knuckles reverently. "I _needed_ you." The rawness in her voice makes Mara's heart sink. "Do not ever say that I did not need you, because I did, I missed you every day with my whole fucking heart. I held on because of you. I gladly held the line on my own for your sake. But now that you're back, I don't know how could I hold myself together all this time."

"Petra." Mara's voice breaks again, barely holding a sob.

"You held the line in a far away front, my Queen, my lady. I did what I had to do in here."

_If I had some foresight,_ Mara chastises herself, _you would not have to do this._ _You would not have had to kill your friend — my brother — to spare the Reef more suffering._ _You would not be trapped in this existential hell, seeing your Corsairs die again and again and again._

"I could have had the decency to spare a word for you!" Stating this truth does not feel like relief. Truth leaves her uncomfortably naked. But it is the very first thing she has to do if she wants to make up for her affront to Petra. "You deserved that, at the very least. You did not deserve to blame yourself for all of this nor to wring yourself trying to extract a lesson from my absence nor —"

" — None of us deserved this. Stop — stop flagellating yourself." Petra's face is wet with tears when she kisses her Queen, breathless, desperate, and so, so glad to see her again. "That does no good to anyone."

Petra kisses her ladyship again, and again, and again, holding her as if she is going to vanish at any moment. _I'm not going anywhere,_ Mara wants to promise her, _I'm not leaving you again._

Is she forgiven? Mara does not know. She does not feel like she deserves it, anyway. But Petra's tight embrace feels like she imagines grace to feel like, and that is enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by that one voiceline in Zavala's office. 
> 
> To those who read this when it was a wee draft and helped me trim the fat, thank you. You know who you are.
> 
> Let 👏 Petra 👏 say 👏 fuck!


End file.
